Mississippi’s 15-Week Abortion Law Invalid, Federal Court Says

Mississippi’s law banning abortions after 15 weeks gestation is “unequivocally” unconstitutional, a federal district court ruled.

Mississippi House Bill 1510—one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country—places an unconstitutional burden on a woman’s 14th Amendment right to choose an abortion, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi said Nov. 20.

The law prohibits health-care providers from performing, inducing, or attempting to perform an abortion on an “unborn human being” if 15 or more weeks have passed since the woman’s last menstrual period.

Doctors who perform abortions outside this time period “shall” have their medical licenses ...